Estimated reading time 3 minutes
Table of Contents
Introduction
Does reading eighth note rhythm notation give you fits? (Or do your students struggle with eighth notes?) Many musicians have trouble reading rhythm, especially ADD, ASD, LD, and special needs students. Read more to learn color coded eighth note clapping.
This post uses musical terms. See the definition links in the Glossary at the end of the article.
Video: How Effective is Color Coding the Rhythm?
Color Coded Eighth Note Clapping: Reviewing the Meaning of “Level of Rhythm”
Despite having the name, Color Coded Eighth Note Clapping, you’ll clap other note values as well. When we say, “the eighth note level of rhythm,” it means that the shortest note will be the eighth note.
Nonetheless, you will perform quarter, half, and whole notes in addition to eighth notes. The biggest difference between the quarter and eighth note levels of rhythm has to do with how you count them.
Related:
How Color Coded Eighth Note Clapping Works
In 4/4 time, we have four beats per bar and the quarter note has one beat. This means that you have four quarter notes per measure. However, when we add eighth notes, we will instead have eight notes per measure. (Thus, why we call them quarter and eighth notes, though the names only work in 4/4.)
Each quarter note gets a counting number (1 2 3 4), thus showing the order of the beats in the bar. However, eighth notes double the number of notes. This means we need a way to count the extra notes in each measure. We do this by adding “+” signs above the notes that are off of the beat.
We call the “+” sign an “and.” Traditionally, you count each number and “and” in sequence while clapping the rhythm. You use the shape of the note to determine how long to hold it. Also traditionally, many students struggle mightily with this system of counting.
In Color Coded Eighth Note Clapping, I’ve color coded the counting numbers (including the “ands”) to help students better perform the rhythm.
This is how it works:
- Red = clap
- Blue = don’t clap
The Color Coded Eighth Note Clapping Exercise
As you perform the color coded eighth note clapping exercise, count the numbers out loud as you clap. Clap when saying the red numbers or “ands,” and don’t clap when saying the blue numbers or “ands.”
In addition, I’ve given you a soundtrack that shows you how the rhythm sounds. DON’T play the track before you clap the exercise below. Rather, use the soundtrack to check your rhythm after you’ve done the exercise.
Be sure to pay attention to the shape of the note and how many counts it gets:
- Eighth note: 1/2 beat long = black stem, notehead, and a beam or flag
- Quarter note: 1 beat long = black stem and notehead
- Half note: 2 beats long = black stem with a white notehead
- Whole note: 4 beats long = white notehead without the stem
Once you’ve mastered The Color Coded Eighth Note Clapping Exercise, do the quiz.
Mobile users: for best results reading the music examples, tilt your screen 90o to the right.
The Color Coded Eighth Note Clapping Exercise:
The Quiz for Color Coded Eighth Note Clapping
Conclusion
As you perform the color coded eighth note clapping, you will see that it simplifies the amount of information you need to process. This in turn makes it easier to accurately execute the rhythm.
Any musician will benefit from this approach to rhythm. However, it is a vital multisensory strategy for teaching autistic, LD, and other special needs students.
© 2022 Geoffrey Keith
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Glossary
Once Sheet Music is All Digital, Why Not Always Colour-Code Notes?
“Once sheet music is all digital, why not always colour-code notes?” Since most sheet music can now come in digital format, will there be any good reason not to color code the notes all the time? I’ve long advocated using color coding for helping special needs students to learn music from sheet music. However, the opening suggestion (by a person on social media) goes one step further. It proposes making a permanent change to how people read sheet music. Click to find out the arguments for and against adopting universal color coded music notation. Estimated reading time 2 minutes.
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What Exactly Is a Chord and What Does the Term Harmony Mean?
Are you unclear about what harmony is? Do you want to know how it works? Harmony is a major subcategory of music theory that helps musicians to understand how notes should go together. This in turn impacts how they arrange their music. Keep reading “What Exactly Is a Chord and What Does the Term Harmony Mean?” to learn how it works. Estimated reading time 2 minutes.
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How to Color the Music Score to Successfully Focus Special Needs and LD Students on Features of the Sheet Music
Color does not need to be limited to color-coding. Bring staccato, legato, pedal, dynamics, and accents to the foreground by using a highlighter and red pen. Estimated reading time 2 minutes.
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How to Color Code Music Notes for Successful LD & Special Needs Distance Learning
Based on a scientifically proven method for teaching LD students. Learn how to color code music notes for LD & special needs students. Estimated reading time 6 minutes.
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